The Wolf Among Us (Completed)

Chapter 12 - Confession

The snap-snap of fingers brought Estera back from the abyss of unconsciousness. Her eyes shrunk at the bright light bulb dangling above her head like a call to heaven, and Magnus bent at the waist, searching her face. In the dark corner stood the outline of someone she couldn't recognize, and when she tried to move, her limbs wouldn't budge. Glancing down, she found them bound to the rigid, wooden seat she was in.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Estera?"

"I... I don't know what you mean."

"Yes, you do." Rafi stepped forward, revealing himself and the rod in his hands.

"We know you lied about being from the west, and if you come clean, and tell us what happened to Samson, then this will all remain between us," Magnus explained.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Now release me!" She fought against the restraints causing the veins in her neck to bulge.

"Not until you confess." Rafi twisted the end of the rod, creating a spark of electricity at the tip.

"What's that?" She drew back.

"Confess, and you won't have to find out." Rafi intensified the voltage. Her eyes darted to Magnus. "No, don't look at him. He won't help you."

"I don't know what you want me to say?"

Magnus turned away, and asked softly, "Why are you doing this, Estera? How can you look me in the eyes and lie?"

"I..."

"Samson saw you at the trading post talking to a southerner." He spun back around. "From the beginning, he knew something was off about you, but I didn't listen because I wanted to believe that you wouldn't lie to me. Yet here we are. My brother is dead, and you're lying to me."

"I don't know what you want-"

"Sounds like you could use a little motivation." Rafi paced forward and prodded her side, causing her spine to collapse as she seized in the chair. When the sharp ripple dissipated, her bladder emptied with a warmth coating her inner thighs. Glancing down, she heard the drip-drip of her urine leaking through the wooden chair and onto the cement floor.

"Zemora won't be happy about you soiling her dress," Rafi tisked.

"Raf..." Magnus cut his eyes at him

"What? She won't." He shrugged and turned to Estera. "Just a fair warning, the second time I shock you, it won't be urine that comes out."

"You think poking me with that thing will scare me?" she snorted. "You have no idea what I can endure."

"Because you're a warrior, right?" Magnus began pacing. "A warrior from the south. You know, I remember hearing stories about how kids are taught at a young age to fight - how by the time they turn eighteen, they're killing machines. So, my brother didn't stand a chance against you, did he? I bet he confronted you, and you killed him so he couldn't reveal the truth to everyone."

"No."

"No?" he repeated.

"I didn't kill him."

"Then what happened, Estera." Magnus crouched in front of her, his hands clasped in prayer. "Please. Please, just tell me."

Looking into his glossy eyes, her heart ached as if he'd reached inside her chest to squeeze every last beat from it.

"Please," he said again.

Next to him, Rafi tapped the rod against his palm with the lamplight casting sharp angles across his face. Swallowing down the mass in her throat, she blinked away tears - her thoughts racing about what would happen if she told the truth? She knew what the south would do. They would slaughter her as soon as they got the information they needed and leave her carcass for the vultures to feast on. She knew this because she had seen what became of those defeated in the fighting pit. It would've been her fate, had her grandmother, Agatha, not intervened.